My name is Maura Hartman, and I am currently a senior at Mason County high school in Maysville Kentucky. I have the great distinction of serving as the 2023-2024 state President of the Kentucky Association of the Family Career and Community Leaders of America.

At the height of the pandemic in 2020 I joined FCCLA. Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America is a national Career and Technical Student Organization for students in Family and Consumer Sciences education FCCLA offers intra-curricular resources and opportunities for students to pursue careers that support families.

Since 1945, when you might have known it as Future Homemakers of America (FHA), FCCLA members have been making a difference in their families, careers, and communities in this organization members develop skills for life through character development, creative and critical thinking, interpersonal communication, practical knowledge, and career preparation.

I had always known of this organization from family members being involved and seeing the importance the Mason County chapter had in our community. As soon as I became involved with FCCLA I found my passion for not only the organization but the incredible activities we complete.

FCCLA expands members' knowledge of their community and allows them to investigate future careers and learn critical skills, but it also allows them to travel and gain more worldly experience than most students would get to encounter while in school.

FCCLA has genuinely changed my life and who I am as a person. I have always been a talkative person but put myself in front of people to speak and I wasn't able to, I was so nervous. Through the immersive projects and activities I have completed, I can now stand in front of hundreds of people and confidently speak about virtually anything.

Through this organization, my current and past roles, and my inspiring advisor Shannon Roberts, I have learned irreplaceable skills like critical thinking, time management, teamwork and so many more. I have even made a very important decision because of the career readiness that FCCLA has gifted me and I can't wait to be a Family and consumer sciences educator because of it. I'm ready to share this amazing organization with my future students.

I would never be able to operate in the capacity I do as state president without my “inREDible” council I work with. Sydney Williams, Lindsey Cobble, Gabriela Cantha, Allie Holt, Harmony Taylor, Jordan Frye, Jordan Cathy, Michenna Meredith, Maggie Bagwell are such passionate officers, and the reason KY FCCLA runs so proficiently.

In my office, I have many important responsibilities. I am always the first to support my officers in their goals and oversee the operations of each specific office. I chair state executive council meetings and have spoken at multiple Kentucky events having the honor of representing Kentucky FCCLA. While I do carry individual duties, the abundance of work is shared by our state executive council listed previously led by our outstanding state advisor Ashleigh Vanhoose.